dotCatholic

New York State's grim abortion figures

2009-11-30T18:11:00.003Z

I have just come across this table (from the Guardian) of figures for abortions in the United States of America:

One figure stands out. For every 1000 live births in the state of New York, a further 507 are aborted. The figure is even worse for New York City: it's 756 abortions for every 1000 live births. That's a 43% chance for every conception to end up murdered.

I don't really want to think about it, beyond praying for forgiveness for those concerned and for the souls of the children whose lives were so senselessly discarded.

Whatever happened to the Hypocratic Oath?

2009-09-12T21:34:00.007+01:00

This story, linked below, broke my heart.

"Doctors said I'd had a miscarriage and did nothing as my premature baby fought for his life"

Write to your MP. This situation needs to be changed.

There is a 10 Downing Street Petition HERE. Please sign it.

St Maximilian Kolbe, Priest and Martyr

2009-08-14T20:42:00.003+01:00

Maximilian Kolbe (8 Jan 1894 - 14 Aug 1941) was a Polish Franciscan who volunteered to die in the place of a stranger while incarcerated at Auschwitz concentration camp.

He was canonised on 10 Oct 1982 by Pope John Paul II and was declared a Martyr of Charity and patron saint of, among others, drug addicts and political prisoners.

His death came about after a man in his cell block at Auschwitz disappeared. The commander of the camp ordered that 10 men be starved to death in order to deter future escape attempts. One of the men chosen, Franciszek Gajowniczek, had a family and in desperation pleaded for mercy. Maximilian offered to take his place and the offer was accepted.

After three weeks of deliberate starvation, four of the ten were left clinging to life, among them Maximilian. Those in charge of the camp were unwilling and too impatient to let him die in his own time and instead determined to murder him. He was injected with carbolic acid. Maximilian did not allow himself to be taken by force and, instead, offered his arm to his executioner for the injection. An eye-witness described him doing so "with a prayer on his lips." Maximilian was found afterwards, by the same witness: "leaning in a sitting position against the back wall with his eyes open and his head drooping sideways. His face was calm and radiant." The body of the man who had 'disappeared' was discovered a while later.

Greater love hath no man than this - that he lay down his life for another.

St Maximilian, pray for us.

Beautiful Churches of the World

2009-08-07T12:42:00.004+01:00

As the beginning of what I hope will become a series of posts, I'd like to draw your attention to a church in Brazilia, Brazil...

It's the Sanctuário Dom Bosco (appropriate since Saint John Bosco is a particular favourite of mine)...

Take a look at http://www.santuariodombosco.org.br/fotos.php

The site obviously isn't in English, but the pictures say all you need to know.

I love the glass panes in various shades of blue: the effect is 'otherworldly' and, to my eyes, it is absolutely beautiful.

Erm... Is this for real?

2009-06-16T15:34:00.004+01:00

Apparently this is how Corpus Christi is celebrated in Linz, Austria. And THIS is a "monstance"?

I'm TRYING to believe that this is a humungous hoax. I'm looking for all the possible IT related evidence that the picture is a fake.

But try as I might, the suspicion remains that this sacrilege is genuine.

The Blessed Sacrament being hawked around on a pair of tongs - in the rain and unprotected?

This is just too awful.

Time for a fresh mandate

2009-05-20T14:23:00.003+01:00

I've been keeping schtum about the UK political situation lately but I've now had enough and I've decided it's time to speak (or write) my mind.

The situation with Parliament's handling of the Expenses Scandals is ridiculous and an affront to the British people's right to a fair democracy.

MPs have been caught with their snouts in the trough so far that they seem to be drowning in swill. The Speaker has been ineffectual in dealing with reforming the system and moving to a culture of transparency in MPs public affairs and the Prime Minister seems, to me, to be the worst of the bunch.

This is a man who has no democratic accountability - after all, he achieved his post by effective coronation rather than even an election within his Party. And now he claims that this Parliament, stocked as it is with Members who have been found to be unjustifiably extravagent (putting it charitably) with the Public Purse, should be the same Parliament that fixes its own problems.

To me this is like the gamekeeper giving to the poacher the responsibility to fix the fences. The PM is suggesting that the more-or-less corrupt bunch of MPs responsible for the scandal be charged with fixing the broken expenses regime.

Nothing could be more inappropriate. These are the LAST people who should be fixing the system. The PM with no mandate wants a Parliament that's lost its moral legitimacy to pass judgement on itself. Well sorry, but that's simply not good enough.

If we are going to have a Parliament that is to reform itself it has to be formed of MPs who have a legitimacy given and renewed by the British people - a legitimacy that the vast majority of the general public don't agree that the current Parliament has any more.

We need a General Election NOW. We need to be able to throw out the MPs responsible for this scandal and we need the opportunity to replace them with truly honourable members who will make it their first responsibility to inject moral probity and transparency into an institution desperately lacking in it.

For goodness sake, PM, call an Election and call it NOW.

80 year old Priest arrested...

2009-05-18T01:50:00.004+01:00

on the grounds of Notre Dame (Catholic!) University for protesting against abortion and the visit of Pro Partial Birth President Obama.

Is it me or has the world just turned upside down?

It breaks my heart that a supposedly Catholic institution should instruct law officers to carry off a frail old man who only wants to protect unborn life and protest that that same institution should see fit to honour someone who, despite undoubted other fine qualities, has such a depressing record of support for the destruction of innocent life.

Palpable evil is abroad it seems and speech seems no longer to be free...

Prayer, prayer and more prayer is needed:

Saint Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle; be our protection against the wickedness and snares of the devil. May God rebuke him, we humbly pray: and do thou, O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power of God, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who prowl about the world seeking the ruin of souls. Amen.

Dear Lord...

2009-05-06T00:25:00.001+01:00

I've been trying to give myself to you. Please show me how to do it right?

Mass Tourism

2009-05-03T21:56:00.002+01:00

Firstly a small apology. I know I've not been updating for the last week or two. This is mainly down to writers block (it's happening everywhere I look - must be something to do with the nice weather!) but also somewhat down to other things occupying my mind. Nothing dreadful: it just meant that I wasn't really thinking 'blog' much lately.

Anyhoo... down to business!

I normally go to the Saturday evening vigil Mass. This week I was supposed to have been 'on duty' but I'd developed a splitting headache after a long hot journey so I arranged cover and hid in a darkened room instead. Waking up today I decided that I'd try a little bit of Mass Tourism instead by attending Mass at the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs in Cambridge. And what a treat that was. A full choir, a glorious organ, hymns in a pitch I can sing! There was incense by the bucket-load - indeed it was nice to have a (lady) thurifer who incensed the congregation.

All in all it was a lovely solemn Mass with lovely music and nothing awful in the way of 'abuses'. The only comment I would make would be about one EMHC who I observed over some time and who seemed very keen to deposit not just the Host on the tongue of those who approached him for Communion in this manner but seemed also to be making a good try at inserting his fingers into their mouths as well. Possibly not a good idea for hygiene, especially in these times of heightened awareness. I avoided him.

That observation notwithstanding I left with pleasurable memories of a Liturgy conducted with great solemnity and beauty, exactly as Mass should be celebrated. Obviously OLEM is a very big parish and has the capacity to do this and not every church will be able to replicate the full ceremony (for want of choir, musicians with the required skill, a full complement of servers etc) so it's very nice to experience this from time to time.

I think I might make this an irregular occasional 'thing' now - to experience Mass in different parishes. After all, each parish will have different 'charisms' (I like that word) to draw on and that will come out in the celebration. I think it would be good to broaden my experience of Mass and the differences I find will give me more to think about.

Pope Saves The World!

2009-04-19T23:42:00.004+01:00

Far from being just the centre of the Roman Catholic Church, the Vatican is now looking to ecological initiatives to not only go green, in and of itself, but also intends to use its resources towards dragging Italy with it.

Apparently, there's enough land owned by the Vatican outside the confines of the city state to allow it to go beyond the benefits offered by the recent installation of photo-voltaic electricity generation on the roof of the hall used for Papal Audiences when they're held indoors. Now it seems that the Vatican is going to install a further solar power generation facility that will produce enough juice to power 40,000 households as well as Vatican Radio - allowing the Vatican to actually export electricity. The Vatican might actually get a GDP!

This is fantastic news. The Pope Saves The World! Well... maybe not entirely, but he's certainly doing far more than you might expect for a country as diminutive as his... He's certainly setting a high standard.

Hat tip: http://clericalwhispers.blogspot.com/2009/04/pope-to-pursue-heavenly-power-in.html

Evensong

2009-04-19T21:16:00.004+01:00

Today I had the great pleasure to attend Evensong at Norwich (CofE) Cathedral, in the choir of which a good friend of mine was singing.

It was a joy to listen to such heavenly voices and listen to an organ that was played so wonderfully I could feel its vibrations through the soles of my feet. I so rarely experience such things and there were moments in the singing that were so truly those of sublime beauty that the notes must have reached Heaven itself. Fitting then that the moments of perfection were at the instant the choir sang "Glory be to the Father, to the Son and to the Holy Ghost". That pure beauty and pleasure was dedicated to He who made all things, is in all things and who sustains all things. It was, indeed, glorious and every hair stood on end. I shall treasure the memory.

God died in the flesh and hell trembles with fear.

2009-04-12T13:27:00.003+01:00

Those words are from an ancient homily and are repeated within the Office of Readings for yesterday and are definitely worth meditating on.

Imagine it...

The all powerful God takes human form in the person of Jesus while still remaining complete in His divinity. And that person dies - physically dies - so that God may share in our humanity and in our own suffering. But being God, being the One who created us, who made life, who sustains it, death can have no power over him. This joining of our experience of mortality with God's experience of eternity seals our destiny forever. We cannot be separated from God: we are his people, his children, his eternally beloved.

That the Son of God should voluntarily choose to experience death! That death should be vanquished by His divinity! No wonder Hell trembles with fear. For we only have to choose God and live by that choice and evil can have no power over us. Ever.

Whatever disasters may befall us, whatever nightmares may plague our resting, whatever ills may plague our waking, we will always have God. And what a joy that is!

Christ has died. Christ IS risen. Christ WILL come again!

---------

The full reading to which I refer is at: http://www.universalis.com/20090411/readings.htm It's the second reading. Read it... it'll stop you in your tracks, and if you're anything like me, it'll bring tears of awe to your eyes as well.

Where on earth is compassion?

2009-04-09T14:20:00.002+01:00

I was dreadfully saddened today to read the account of a mother from Wales who has been prosecuted and convicted for 'taking a holiday' and leaving her children at home.

In bare terms, put like that, it's all too easy to criticise and judge. Bad mother! Heartless! Abandonment! But then, when you look at the circumstances behind the 'crime' you find something very different indeed.

This woman had been working for 16 hours a day, doing two jobs, to support her family and sister who has unspecified mental health issues. And by the sounds of things she wasn't getting any thanks - or help - whatsoever. After coming home one day, dog tired from work, she encountered her children and her sister doing nothing but screaming at her. And her tether snapped. She gathered a few things and walked out of the house. She ended up in Cardiff Airport and just jumped on the first available flight. It could have been anywhere. It happened to be Spain. And she landed there with no money, no accomodation, no nothing. It certainly wasn't a 'holiday' in any sense that I understand the word. After a couple of days she came to her senses and her family - who had stepped in to look after her kids - arranged for her return.

What I want to know is how the authorities decided it was a good idea for this poor woman to be prosecuted. What good does it do - to the woman herself or her family or, indeed, society - for her to be given a criminal record because she ran out of capacity to cope with an incredibly trying situation? Where were the authorities in all this in the first place?

This woman was working 2/3rds of the day. She had no time for herself, barely any time to eat and sleep. It doesn't sound like she's a bad woman from my point of view. To me, she was struggling to do the very best for her family in very bad circumstances and I'm not surprised the pressure got to her in the end. And, being the good mother she actually is, she's reportedly appalled at her own actions.

And the State prosecutes her. And we all know that having a criminal record - suspended sentence or not - is really going to help her get her life back on track, don't we?

I'm appalled. Not because a mother found that her circumstances completely broke her, but that the State thinks that it's a good idea to heap insult upon injury by considering that she needed to be 'taught a further lesson' by means of prosecution. It seems to me that the State should, instead, be offering her assistance in caring for her children... childcare or daycare, financial assistance, medical care for the ill sister, someone to turn to when things get too much.

She should never have been prosecuted. She should have received compassion and care from those who have it within their power to help but chose not to.

If ever you're asked what is going wrong with the world, then this is a good example.

Chrism Mass

2009-04-08T16:44:00.002+01:00

I'm off to the Chrism Mass in Norwich tonight. Oddly enough, in all my 38 years, I've never been to a Chrism Mass, so this will be something new and interesting for me. One thing I'm certainly looking forward to is some decent singing - I don't hear much good singing at Church (this isn't a criticism, it's just that we have such a small congregation that there simply aren't enough voices to make the music swell).

Hoping to meet a friend afterwards as well.

Today has been and looks like it's going to continue as a good day. To the extent that one 'enjoys' something as solemn as Holy Week, I can say that I am. It's meaning a lot to me this year.

Facing East, a thought...

2009-04-06T13:56:00.002+01:00

I read quite a bit, round and about in the blogosphere, and I see lots of arguments and complaining about 'Ad Orientem' - that is to say, the priest 'facing [liturgical] east' when celebrating Mass, also commonly thought of as 'his back to the people', and a thought has just occurred to me... (cue fireworks, 'cos original thoughts are quite rare for me!)

The priest perceived to have his 'back to the people' does so because he is offering the sacrifice of Mass on the people's behalf and as part of them leading them all towards the same God, yes? (Correct me if I'm wrong or drawing too succinct a conclusion).

Now a lot of people don't like this: because they can't see what the priest is doing they don't feel part of it. They begin to feel an 'us and them' distinction (which of course isn't there).

So... (and let's leave aside the practicalities of my idea)... if the altar were to be positioned in the centre of the church, with the congregation to the left and the right of it, all - priests and laity - facing the same way, would this alleviate some of the impressions of separation?

The priest has the only faculty for the consecration of the host and the wine, but perhaps in such a physical arrangement the lay people would feel the priest was *amongst* them in carrying out the consecration - i.e. his faculties but 'our' community.

I appreciate that this doesn't work in large congregations or where the layout of the church doesn't support it, and there are probably all sorts of other incredibly important and real reasons why this wouldn't work, but it's just an idea and I float it out there to see how quickly it gets shot down... Free free to take a pot shot!

Reminders of mortality in Holy Week.

2009-04-06T10:09:00.006+01:00

Today brings news of a deadly earthquake in Italy, only 60 or so miles from Rome.

Lives have been lost and buildings - including, according to reports, churches - and possessions have been destroyed. It is so tempting to give in to despair in such situations. When all seems apparently lost and that loss seems so senseless, who can blame anyone for feeling hopelessly alone? Many might wonder where God was during this cataclysm.

But let not the message of Holy Week be forgotten.

Buildings and possessions can be repaired or renewed. They are simply things, replaceable products of man's ingenuity and skill. Lives, on the other hand, are products of God. The message of Holy Week, culminating in Easter, is that lives too are renewed and repaired. Those living are renewed and repaired by the sacrifice Our Lord made on our behalf. Those dying are renewed and repaired by admission into Heaven that we are promised due to our hope and our belief in the salvation offered by Christ.

Let us pray for the souls of those who have died in such anguish, that they may swiftly be forgiven of their sins and may enter into the fullness of the joy of being with our Risen Lord. For them, Easter has come early. May our prayers also gain for us the grace and the determination to work, in this life, for the salvation of all in our world, to relieve suffering and bring about peace, and by these works may we also gain the joy of being with Our Lord whenever our time comes.

Eternal rest, Oh Lord, grant unto those who have died. Let your perpetual light of love shine upon them. May their sins be forgiven and may they rest in peace in your loving embrace forever.

(Image from BBC News: story here)

The Cathedral of the Sea, Talking to Our Lady.

2009-04-02T00:14:00.003+01:00

I have just begun reading Ildefonso Falcones' epic novel 'Cathedral of the Sea' - I am not even a fifth of the way into it yet - but I just have to take a moment to rave about it!

The story is set in 14th Century Spain and, so far, revolves around the life of a young peasant boy, Arnau, and his father as they struggle against the iniquities of the feudal system and the injustices meted out upon them by vicious overlords. The story will, according to the book jacket, chronicle Arnau's life, his trials, triumphs, setbacks, etc.

What has grabbed me most, though, at this early stage in the book, is young Arnau's discovery of the titular church - the very real Santa Maria del Mar of Barcelona. It is described as it is being modeled into THE church for the general public of Barcelona, being paid for by them - in money or effort - rather than lavish endowments by the lords and nobles. Striking is the depiction of the child Arnau's feelings for his mother (or rather the loss of his mother) and his growing love for the Virgin Mary. The book movingly (VERY movingly) describes his search for 'The Virgin' through the city, with each church he encounters not being the 'right' church - dedicated to other saints, etc - and being thrown out of them by unkind priests not willing to suffer a little boy on their premises. And then he discovers, by the sea, the church dedicated to the Virgin Mary whom he as taken to himself as a substitute for the earthly mother he has lost and to whom he has transferred all the love a boy can have for his earthly mother.

In his childlike way, Arnau had trusted the birds of the trees to take his prayers to The Virgin and thereby his messages to his actual mother, long since assumed dead. In a beautiful scene, the writer pictures a flock of birds taking of from a new church - the Cathedral of the Sea - and, at last, Arnau finds a gentle and kind welcome from a priest. Inside the church of Santa Maria del Mar, Arnau finds what he has been looking so hard for: a simple statue of the Madonna and the Christ Child - simply carved, not especially decorated, speaking only to its subject and not about the riches of any benefactor. And Arnau prays simply and freely to the Virgin Mary, in one of the most moving scenes in a book I have ever read.

For anyone who has ever wondered why Catholics are so close to Mary, then I can do no better than recommend this segment of this book to illustrate a little of why we love her so much for her motherly care of Christ and thereby for all of us. If you have ever felt alone or bereft, if you have ever yearned for the love of your mother when it wasn't available for whatever reason (I lost my mother over 10 years ago, for example) let this book, if nothing else, remind you that the Blessed Mother of Our Lord loves us all and is available to all. Talk to her freely, unburden your heart, tell her of your pains and your joys and feel the comfort of her spiritual embrace and her joy in your happiness. It's free and it's as real as any mother's love you have experienced.

'Cathedral of the Sea' could end up as a pot-boiler but it would still be priceless for this illustration.

Our Lady is often called the Star of the Sea: this is because she is seen as a guiding light for us as we journey towards Christ, in the way that a star would guide a sailor. Therefore, since 'Cathedral of the Sea' centres on the Santa Maria del Mar church of Barcelona (shown in the picture) it is appropriate to pray:

Maria, stella maris, ora pro nobis.

Mary, star of the sea, pray for us.

Never go to school reunions...

2009-03-29T15:18:00.003+01:00

Well... don't if you're not particularly satisfied with the decisions you've made with your life.

I went to a 'reunion' of my primary school yesterday - this year being its 50th Anniversary. And I have to say that it wasn't exactly the most fun experience I have attended. Interestingly the buildings are little changed, and even the scale seemed to be much the same as when I left, over a quarter of a century ago, despite my being about twice as big as I was then. But that was the limit of it. There were no people there that I remember, no teachers that ever taught me, and no elements within the vast range of exhibits that had been prepared that came from my 5 years there. In short, nothing but the buildings reminded me of my time there.

And talking of buildings, when I left, after a short time, I decided to visit the local parish church - it being the church where I had my First Communion, and attached to which the school was set up (by nuns, 50 years ago). Sadly I was unable to get in. It saddens me greatly that a Catholic church in the London suburbs isn't open on a Saturday afternoon - you'd think that the nearby shopping 'meccas' might contain a few people who would wish to spend a few quiet moments in contemplation. And, since its school was having an open day, it might have been a good idea to have the church open so that past pupils might come in as well, even if only as a one-off. But no, it was very clearly locked up.

So I left London, bound back to Norfolk, feeling somewhat morose. I was reflecting on the decisions I've taken in the last quarter century. Decisions, which, for good or ill, have seen me to the point I am at in my life now. And it's a point I'm not entirely satisfied with. I regret a lot of wasted opportunities and a lot of things I've done badly at (from the 'mea culpa' point of view).

Hopefully, if there is a silver lining to be had, I'll come out of this more determined to recognise opportunities as they arrive and to not give in to my own weaknesses. After all, there are some paths in my life I feel particularly drawn to. I must take the lesson of yesterday to heart and not let myself repeat the mistakes of the past. The alternative is simply not worth thinking about.

Uniting my small sufferings with Christ's...

2009-03-27T10:07:00.003Z

Having now gone to Mass and returned, I am in a better mood.

This morning's reading was very appropriate for the state of annoyance I was in.



First reading	Wisdom 2:1,12-22 ©
The godless say to themselves, with their misguided reasoning: ‘Our life is short and dreary, nor is there any relief when man’s end comes, nor is anyone known who can give release from Hades. Let us lie in wait for the virtuous man, since he annoys us and opposes our way of life, reproaches us for our breaches of the law and accuses us of playing false to our upbringing. He claims to have knowledge of God, and calls himself a son of the Lord. Before us he stands, a reproof to our way of thinking, the very sight of him weighs our spirits down; his way of life is not like other men’s, the paths he treads are unfamiliar. In his opinion we are counterfeit; he holds aloof from our doings as though from filth; he proclaims the final end of the virtuous as happy and boasts of having God for his father. Let us see if what he says is true, let us observe what kind of end he himself will have. If the virtuous man is God’s son, God will take his part and rescue him from the clutches of his enemies. Let us test him with cruelty and with torture, and thus explore this gentleness of his and put his endurance to the proof. Let us condemn him to a shameful death since he will be looked after – we have his word for it.’ This is the way they reason, but they are misled, their malice makes them blind. They do not know the hidden things of God, they have no hope that holiness will be rewarded, they can see no reward for blameless souls.

I was reminded that those who are Godless refuse to recognise the goodness of God. They wilfully reject it and actively seek suffering for those who ARE of God. As it was for Christ so it continues to be. But I have a consolation those who attack do not have. I have the knowledge of who it was who came from God. I have the knowledge that I am a part of the Body of Christ by being a member of the Church. As part of that Body I suffer willingly the attacks and the taunts because I know they cannot take away my faith. And I am comforted by the fact that I can, in my own incredibly small way, unite my own sufferings with those of Christ.

I offer up my own sorrow at being attacked by those who hate my Church as part of my Lenten penance. May I be purified by this sorrow and seek to become better for it.

Another attack on Catholicism allowed by the BBC...

2009-03-27T08:52:00.005Z

Watching BBC Breakfast, just a few minutes ago, and in the context of a discussion about removing the anti-Catholic bias in the laws about Royal succession (and also the anti-female bias as well) I was very annoyed (but not especially surprised) that the 'expert' commentator, the well known historian David Starkey, was allowed to get away with a vicious attack on the Roman Catholic Church without any question or reigning in by the presenters. With the benefit of my Sky Plus box I was able to retrospectively record his comment and here it is transcribed, verbatim (my emphasis to match his spoken emphasis):

But there's one body in the world that is more profoundly discriminatory than any other and that is the Roman Catholic Church. It does not allow women to be priests, it is profoundly hostile to homosexuals, it has been abusive - the Pope has been abusive - to Islam. You know, isn't it very odd that we are falling over backwards to - ah - alter our customs to a body which is so profoundly discriminatory?

Well, Mr Starkey (or Dr Starkey, although Wikipedia makes no mention of your Doctorate, oddly)... Isn't it odd that you would seek to misrepresent the Church? You're well known for your views - you're well known for your homosexuality, for example, which is a telling point - 'political homosexuals' (or homosexual by opinion) in my observation are typically far more biased, arrogant and opinionated than any who are simply homosexual by orientation. You clearly have an axe to grind: you're clearly the sort of person who believes that 'anything goes' and anyone who doesn't believe the same as you should be anathema, to you, personally, or towards any concept of equal treatment.

But let's not get into an argument about sexual orientation. This is yet another example of the BBC's editors and producers allowing people to comment without any instruction to the presenters to reign them in when making terribly inflammatory comments about Catholics.

We don't believe in women priests because we don't believe women can be priests any more than we believe that women can be men or men can be women. The Church believes that there is an essential character to the priesthood that is indissoluble. It's not a matter of culpable discrimination. It's a matter of intrinsic belief. But Starkey, et al, are not interested in that. So the BBC let them go on the attack on the basis of an incorrect assumption. And the assumption it never questioned and the attack is never forestalled even when it's not relevant to the discussion upon which the invited commentator has been asked to pronounce upon.

Previously I would be fairly uninterested in reports of the BBC's anti-Catholic bias, but it's happened in front of my own eyes this time. And I am annoyed.

Hope vs presumption and despair

2009-03-21T22:49:00.004Z

My Parish Priest spoke eloquently in his homily this evening on the two enemies of Hope - those being presumption and despair, where presumption is the deformation of hope into blind arrogance and despair is the complete loss of hope altogether.

With respect to my previous posting, this supplies a measure of an answer as well as a challenge to us all.

We must fight hard against the presumption of those who would seek to destroy our hope in things of goodness by means of arrogant belief that they know better than God. We must fight equally hard against the despair that is a result of these people's apparent victory in their presumption over our knowledge of what is good, right and proper, for without hope we are lost.

Hope is sandwiched between presumption and despair - and it is the only answer to both, for there is nowhere else to go. We must hope that the Holy Spirit will move those who believe in good to act for it. We must hope that Our Lord well have pity on those who suffer due to the presumption of others. We MUST hope that we will not succumb to despair as we trust in the Word of God. We must turn our hope into action and our actions must reflect our faith. And when we do we will have joy in the knowledge that we are acting as Christ taught us to do: to love one another as we would ourselves be loved, to teach that love to others and to win the battle against the despair and presumption.

That is the message we need to sing out... Our hope - our faith - that good will overcome evil fulfills and sustains and saves us.

It's time for a new politics...

2009-03-21T15:55:00.006Z

What with the parliamentary motion to 'ease' the restrictions on suicide/euthanasia and today's reported decision by the High Court allowing doctors to over-ride parental objections to turn off the life support of a disabled and critically ill baby, I'm wondering how it is that we (society) managed to get into such a position that the right to life of the living and the long-since born - let alone the unborn - is so irrelevant to those who make the laws and those who uphold them.

I can't work it out in my mind. When did 'we' suddenly decide that we could take into our hands that right which previously we had believed belonged only to God? At what point did we decide we were better than God at deciding what life is valid and worthy of existing and what wasn't? How did we suddenly discover that people who took this position were in the majority - at least amongst our lawmakers and law adjudicators?

And how can this be reversed?

It seems to me that those who believe - as I do - passionately in the sanctity and inviolability of life from the very moment of conception need to step up and not just to be counted but to take action to become part of the rulers of the country.

People of good faith and who believe in the right to life need to decide to join their personally preferred political organisation and put themselves forward for selection for candidature to elected office. It's the only way to change things. We can sit on our backsides wringing our hands and crying about the lost and wasted lives, but those tears will, ultimately, be empty if we're not prepared to back them up with positive action (by which I mean actually doing something).

It's a question I have to ask myself. It's a question everyone needs to ask themselves. Our political class seems to be lead by those who are more than a bit amoral at times. Does our morality somehow dissuade us from joining in with them? Are we scared of being tarred by their brush? Perhaps instead Politics needs a good old-fashioned clean-out.

It's time for a new politics. It's time for people - worthy, intelligent, just people - to stand up and take the reigns. People who, previously, had never thought themselves the right sort of people to make laws and run the country. Because, let's face it, it looks like there's a lot of very wrong sorts of people doing it right now. We need a wholesale change. Not just of political party, but of the calibre of political people.

I do it to myself!

2009-03-19T10:37:00.003Z

I really do.

I feel awful!

My Lenten observance this year (which I'm being hideously bad at) is to try to reorder my life and my body-clock. As I've mentioned before, my body likes to stay up late and wake up late. I am, according to a BBC Horizon programme a couple of weeks back, an 'owl' person. Which is all very well, except that the rest of the world doesn't run on owl time. And last night I was very much on owl time as, for most of the small hours, I stared in turns at my ceiling, the alarm clock, the pillow, my watch, the insides of my eyelids, the ceiling again, etc... I even resorted to my laptop (which is bad, I know, because it stimulates the brain, but I was bored!) I know it was gone 3.30am before I fell asleep.

And today I had to get up early and I'm expected to join friends for an afternoon out later.

My eyes feel like they're on elastic and what serves as my brain feels more like soggy Shreaded Wheat. Urgh.

This is what penance feels like!

The daftness and the sadness of 'de-baptism'

2009-03-18T23:03:00.007Z

Much has been written in the blogosphere about the desire of some people to become 'de-baptised' and a thought has just occurred to me...

De-baptism on the basis of a loss of belief (or never having properly had it) is daft in one sense (inasmuch as in one can't undo something that's part of history), but also rather tragic in another.

It seems to me that to be 'de-baptised' one has to have a certain amount of belief in the effect that being baptised in the first place has on a person... Which sort of defeats the argument of atheism. Surely most true atheists simply wouldn't care? Which, to my eyes, leaves the picture of a person railing against God for another reason entirely, one that is yet to be elucidated in each case. And THAT poses a particular and sensitive pastoral care challenge. How does one draw out the reason for the rage against God in that person without further hurting them? How does that person heal their relationship with God, Church and religion and how can one assist without risking a black eye?

Answers on a postcard please!

Holy Mass in the Sarum Use

2009-03-18T13:42:00.006Z

I have just chanced upon a glorious video of Holy Mass being celebrated according to the 'Sarum Use' - that is to say, the rite of Mass as it was celebrated in England at and before Henry VIII's time - i.e pre-Tridentine, given its ancient usage still apparently validly (although very rarely) celebrated in this form today.

The clip below, in particular, brought tears to my eyes. If only all Masses could be so beautifully sung.

I intend to do some more research on this Use as I'm fascinated by the development of the Mass - I want to know how traditions and rubrics have changed over the ages and to see how, say, the Mass of 1500 years ago compares to that of 700 or 300 years ago and then to today's.

Shock news! Pope rejects condoms!

2009-03-17T15:27:00.007Z

Well, it's not really a shock is it?

The Pope is on a visit to Africa (his first) (see here) and has declared that condoms aren't as solution to the AIDS crisis and they are, instead, part of the problem. This, apparently, is courting controversy.

The Pope is, of course, entirely correct and any controversy has its roots in people who would want to defend indefensible behaviour out of their own selfish and hedonistic instincts.

There are a number of fallacies laid at the Pope's door in this regard. Some people seem to think that the Church, in declaring condom use wrong, is somehow culpable in the spread of HIV/AIDs.

This is a fallacious and illogical position.

First of all, it assumes that everyone who busily avails themselves of any and all sexual opportunities are somehow listening to the Church by not using a condom because the Church says condoms are wrong. This is utter rubbish. These people who are randomly engaging in intercourse with each other aren't listening to the Church at all! If they were, they'd be avoiding the situation completely because the Church teaches, most wisely, that adultery and fornication are wrong. W-R-O-N-G. Had these libidinous people been following Church teaching in the first place, they would not be in the position of contracting whatever sexually transmitted disease happened to be going around.

The Church teaches abstinence, chastity and, of course, fidelity within marriage. This is an absolutely foolproof method of avoiding sexually transmitted diseases, simply on the basis that if people don't (excuse the vulgar language) 'shag around' they simply don't come into contact with the diseases in the first place.

The Church cannot approve the use of condoms for another reason. They do not remove risk. Granted, they reduce it, but not by 100%. They are used incorrectly. They fail. They are forgotten. They don't, in any event and if used 100% of the time, prevent all sexually transmitted diseases anyway! How can the Church approve the use of something in order that people can proceed to carry out actions that are sinful regardless? The Church's role is to guide people into not committing the sin in the first place! Anything else smacks of relativism and supposes an approval of an action the Church cannot and will not approve of.

The Church asks, quite reasonably, that people say no to the big sin rather than fail to remember (in the heat of unarguably illicit passions) to use a condom. Surely it's easier to say no before the event?

The Vatican 'bans the use of condoms' apparently. Well, the Vatican also bans extramarital sexual activity, but nobody seems to think that's worthy of comment and clearly people who are engaging in such risky behaviour regardless of what the Vatican says are clearly not going to listen whether the Vatican approves or disapproves of condoms.

We won't save the world by concentrating on the little sins. We'll save the world by getting rid of the BIG sins.

Love, etc.

2009-03-17T13:39:00.006Z

There's a very catchy new tune out at the moment. It's called 'Love etc.' and it's by the Pet Shop Boys. I can't say I'm a particular PSB fan, but in this case I can't stop tapping my toes to it, and the lyrics... well, they're almost spot on perfect for these difficult times we're all living in.

After years during which we were taught (by those who thought that they mattered) that happiness was dependent on one's wealth and possessions, we (society) have fallen headlong into a secular version of the Slough of Despond. Now we find that we can't afford what we want by further indebting ourselves because nobody will lend us the money, and we dare not spend the money we do have for fear of not being able to replace it.

As the song says, "it's tough getting on in the world when the sun doesn't shine" and it goes on to draw a good conclusion: you don't need to have all the 'big bucks' (the limousines, luxury houses, super cars, etc)... what you need is something more but also something 'other' - you need Love.

The song is, however, a little bittersweet. It draws the conclusion that one doesn't have to be beautiful - but it helps, which is a bit of a shame really, even if it's very true that most people will judge by appearances. I think I'm going to take that element of the song more metaphorically: I think that beauty needs to be more than just skin deep but instead becomes all that being human encompasses: your personality, commitment to your friends and those around them, your own love for the world - these are the things that make you beautiful. And these things certainly help distract from material gloom.

So... this foot tapping little song has exactly the right optimistic message for the times we're in now (and repeats what others have said and sung many times in the past). We need optimism and the best optimism comes from the realisation that we can be happy regardless of our possessions and material status. It comes from the love that we can show one another. It comes from our relationships with our friends and families. It comes from the joy we can get from all the things around us that are totally free.

I don't have much money. But I have friends and people that I love. And I am the richest man in the world because of it. And no privation, no material poverty, no recession or depression can ever take that away from me. Thank God for Love!

700 years ago

2009-03-14T19:30:00.001Z

700 years ago, a young girl died either by her own hand or by execution, according to a BBC news story today (see http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/7943831.stm) and was subsequently buried in an unmarked grave on non-consecrated land. In an act of charity - albeit several centuries late - she was today finally given the Christian burial she deserved at Hoo St Werberg Parish Church.

Well done Revd Harding (vicar at Hoo) for recognising that every individual is precious before God and for allowing this poor child to be buried within the boundaries of sacred ground. And well done too to the 200 or more people who attended the committal. It's heartening to know that there are good people out there who care even for the soul of someone who died seven centuries ago. May God bless them all.

Eternal rest grant unto 'Holly' oh Lord, and may perpetual light shine upon her. May her sins be forgiven and may she rest in peace.

Militant secularism is on the attack...

2009-03-14T14:24:00.001Z

I have long been irritated by the 'National Secular Society' (which will, no doubt, delight them). This week they have popped up in the news again in respect of trying to seek some sort of method of 'debaptism' (like anyone can turn the clock back and undo history - it's laughable!). Others have criticised this stance and I don't need to repeat their words, but I do think that the NSS needs to be examined a little closer for what they really are.

I have always found the NSS position to be demonstrably anti-free-speech and profoundly anti-democratic (something they would no doubt argue). They argue principally for the removal of religious influence in the public sphere: that is to say that one's religious belief should be left in a cupboard at home and all politicians should specifically ignore religion altogether when making policy.

Notwithstanding the fact that much, if not all, policy-making has its roots in moral decision-making and is thus permanently tied into belief structures of one form or another, it seems obvious to me that if large proportions of the population find their social and political opinions informed by their religious beliefs then it is natural for religion to be in the public sphere. Someone has to represent the people holding those beliefs at the despatch box and in public life. To leave religion inside the home is to deny the right to express opinions founded or influenced by a religious belief and to disenfranchise expressly anyone holding those opinions.

Of course the tactic used by the NSS (in a very 'Nazi-like' way) is to progressively 'demonise' public religious practices and so, in the end, to suppress religion altogether by fragmenting it to the point of non-existence. The steady drip-drip-drip of reducing the right of any religious opinion to be taken account of in public policy-making (no matter how many people adhere to it) will, if unchecked and if the NSS have their way, lead to the destruction of Christianity in particular and religion in general wherever the NSS's tactics hold sway. And it must be fought. Hard. We cannot go meekly into that abyss because once our descendants know nothing of our religious beliefs there will not be a way back.

I had hoped the NSS would remain a minor irritant, but it seems their drip-drip approach is paying dividends as religious opinion is frequently ignored in debates and decisions about our statutes, what with anti-discrimination legislation that actually and actively discriminates in and of itself, right-to-life being ignored and the abhorrent legislation allowing the production of animal-human hybrid embryos.

It's time to fight back and it's time to review the way we fight back. We need men and women of steel who understand the media, understand opinion-forming, and understand how to motivate those millions of people who instinctively rebel against such things but feel impotent in the face of their apparent powerlessness.

Sparing a thought...

2009-03-12T22:33:00.001Z

Many people will be shocked and appalled by the senseless killings of innocents by the teenager Tim Kretschmer in Germany. Their thoughts will rightly be with the friends and families of those so senselessly murdered. But spare a thought also for the Kretschmer family too. They will have to live with the knowledge that their son/brother acted in such an awful way and their name will be forever attached to this dreadful crime. They too will be suffering a life sentence and it won't be easy for them to ask for sympathy because they will very likely feel guilt by association and may often have that guilt thrust upon them. They may be left very much alone by most or blamed by others - even to the point of violence. I feel for them as they try to understand what drove this young man to such an act - questions which, I suspect, will never be answered adequately.

May they and the families of the bereaved and injured all be granted peace and serenity.

A peek into my abode...

2009-03-08T23:47:00.001Z

I have slightly sore hands: from gripping screwdrivers too hard. I've been building furniture... the shelves mentioned in an earlier post are now complete. Of course I was a bit silly - I'd forgotten I have power tools to help me with this sort of thing. Still, the bruised palms will heal soon enough. They always do.

Next job: to heft all the books and stuff that are stacked up in my bedroom downstairs so I can actually have access to them. At some point in the next few months I also intend to remodel the main bedroom / en-suite to make better use of the space, but that requires more money than I have available right now so I'm going to have to come up with some cunning plans!

Anyone need a handy man? I'm good with drills and paint brushes!

Never judge by appearances...

2009-03-04T00:04:00.001Z

Apropos of nothing, I just thought I'd recount an incident that occurred to me over 10 years ago...

For many years I used to commute to and from London by train - first 70 miles and then, after moving, close to 100 miles each way. At the end of each day I would board the train tired, stressed and invariably grumpy.

One summer's Friday evening I'd missed my fast train home and had to take the stopping train instead that went slower than a snail on valium. This didn't help my mood. And onto this train, at the last minute, stepped a very disheveled looking gentleman - I say disheveled... I actually mean my first impression was that he looked rather like a tramp. He was filthy from head to toe and I mean Filthy. Oil, dirt, dust, mud, rust, etc... You name it, it was on his person somewhere.

And, of course, he sat next to me. Oh joy. Even more joy, he cracked open a can of lager, swigged it down rather fast, and then opened another one. Could this get any worse?

Throughout the journey he fidgetted and shuffled about as I shrank as much as could away from him. If I could have melted through the side of the train I probably would have done. But instead I hunched myself up against the window and roasted myself in the summer sun and got more and more grumpy.

I wished him anywhere but there. Dirty, smelly, fidgety, horrid, worthless man.

And then he started making a roll-up cigarette. Great. Not only is this stinky man making me physically uncomfortable, but he's about to light up as well and really make life fun. I reached the end of my tether.

Now then... my first instinct (grumpy, remember?), having suffered half the journey with this 'tramp' sitting next to me would have been to have a go at him and let him know just where he could put his cigarette. But something that evening made me choose a different track.

As this man continued to fiddle with his cigarette, instead of warning him imperiously (as often only we British can do) about this being a non-smoking carriage, I said "looks like your desperate for a cig, mate!" and grinned at him. (I have no idea where that impulse came from, or perhaps, just perhaps, I do...).

And from there, quite without my having any expectation, we struck up a conversation. It turned out that he had been working in a scrap yard breaking up bits of car and he'd been doing overtime. By the time he'd finished, the locker room (or office or somesuch) had been locked up and he had been unable to get cleaned up. He apologised (without being asked) for the state of his appearance, and explained that he was working in London during the week to support his family. He'd almost given up smoking - in fact his wife wouldn't let him smoke in the house for the sake of the children - and was going to squeeze one or two in somewhere in between the station and his home. He turned out to be a nice, polite, conscientious chap. Someone you'd hold up as an example of someone who - despite difficulties - lived up to his responsibilities in life. The sort of someone who deserves honouring.

He alighted from the train and I continued on my journey. Changed. I never saw him again, but that doesn't mean I've forgotten him.

In the space of one hot and sticky - and slighty whiffy - journey I learned that I'd been judging people based on their appearance. By just looking at the outward appearances of this man, I'd concocted evidence against him, tried him, judged and convicted him. But, by talking to him, I learned his real story. I'd learned that every man has a story that I cannot know until I get to know him. I learned that appearances are not everything. In fact, appearances are pretty much useless in most cases. What matters is what runs deeper.

Everyone has a story. Never presume to know a person unless you give them the chance to tell it to you.

I still catch myself starting to judge from time to time. But I stop myself now. Ten years ago I learned a valuable lesson.

---

Everyone has a story... but once upon a time I'd play a game of building that story myself...

I used to go to school on the London Underground. For a while, I would look at people around me on the train and try to build a story about them. A pretty lady would be a model and she'd be on her way to her first job. Another middle-aged lady would be the manager of a secretarial firm. A young man with a mohican would live in a squat with lots of other weirdly dressed young people and smoke drugs. Another man in a suit would be a stressed manager with a nagging wife and he'd be dreaming of escaping to a desert island (Reggie Perrin anyone?!)... Etc, etc.

Anyway, one day, a man, dressed in a parka, wearing scruffy shoes and looking - to my eyes - altogether shifty sat down opposite me. Immediately I decided that he was a bank robber and that he was on his way to meet his accomplices and then go off to steal diamonds or somesuch from a safety deposit box. I'd concocted this whole fantastical array of deviousness and criminality in my head...

And then he stood up to get off the train and his jacket moved a little... to reveal a clerical 'dog collar' shirt.

I never played that game again!

I read something amazing today

2009-03-03T01:42:00.001Z

"If you descend into somebody else's private hell and stand there with them, it ceases to be hell."

It is a quotation of Father Mychal Judge, 'Victim 0001' of the 11th September attacks, held by many to be a saint, albeit not yet officially canonised.

I think this particular quote emphasises just how important it is to show compassion with those who suffer by being with them in spirit and in sympathy. To suffer and to know that you aren't alone is critically important. Loneliness breeds despair, and despair can sometimes cut oneself off from the good that it all around us and from hope. I know from my own experience that simply 'being there' is often good enough to lift one out of the terror of a crisis. To have a friend in your time of need put a hand on your shoulder and say simply "I am here" and to simply sit with you can be worth more than all the gold in the world.

Father Mychal, you sat with so many who were in the depths of hopelessness. Please pray for all those who are alone in their suffering and who desperately need the light of the Love that consoles and heals.

******** to the 'Stiff Upper Lip'

2009-02-26T13:23:00.001Z

It's probably a bad thing for my blood pressure, but I've been reading a lot of unexpurgated bilge bemoaning the lack of 'British reserve' and people 'wearing their hearts on their sleeves' over the last 24 hours. These people complained about an apparent trend for people to grieve for the loss of those who are completely unrelated to them. They complain about the 'Diana Effect' and go on to draw a conclusion that this is entirely unworthy of traditional 'British' sentiments.

Where did this all come from?

Well, I've been reading the public responses on the BBC website to the temporary 'suspension of politics' in the wake of the tragic death of David Cameron's oldest son. Some people seem to resent the fact that Parliament was suspended for a short time out of respect for the grief of the Leader of the Opposition. Some people seem to think that it's a bad thing for others to respect the grief of someone in the public eye and to be affected by it.

Well, I've got news for them. Here is a famous quote:

No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend's or of thine own were: any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bells tolls; it tolls for thee.

The key phrase is this: "Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind"

Isn't this what we are ALL called to be? To be 'involved in mankind'... to be in solidarity with those who suffer? To share their grief and to let them know that they do not suffer alone or in isolation.

I do not have the right to presume to know what Mr and Mrs Cameron are feeling right now. Their grief is unique and personal to them alone. But no matter whether someone is the Leader of an Opposition or whether they're the local refuse collector, if I come to hear about a tragedy or a loss they are suffering, it is heartless of me to refuse to feel sympathy out of some misguided loyalty to some concept of 'Britishness' best now left in the wastes of history.

Jesus commanded us to love one another as we would ourselves wish to be loved. It seems to me that the so-called 'stiff upper lip' is in direct opposition to this commandment. So what if we're now more inclined to show our sympathy and be more emotionally affected by the losses of those in the public eye? Those losses are no different to those that are in our own 'private' eyes: those of our own immediate circles... We wouldn't be expected to be unaffected there would we?

If being drawn to sympathy and caring by the plight of someone 'famous' is a bad thing, then I don't know what is good any more.

God asks that I wear my heart on my sleeve. And this I do openly in order to honour Him and those who suffer in my midst. And woe betide anyone who suggests otherwise in my presence.

A season of diminishment, growth, repentance and healing.

2009-02-25T17:48:00.001Z

Today Lent begins with the imposition of ashes.

The ash reminds us that we are mortal and that we will, one day, see our bodies wither and turn to dust. It reminds us that time is passing remorselessly and without favour to any. What better time is there to seek the forgiveness of God? As Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor alluded to today, in his homily at Westminster Cathedral, we all have many little sins that, day by day, increase the weight our spirits have to bear.

We have accumulated these sins by being undisciplined in our lives. Discipline is a hard skill to come by. There are so many ways in which we can be led astray: temptations pull us in this direction and that, laziness stops us from going in any direction at all, our natural inclinations work against our duty to become more holy.

Lent, being a clearly understood season of abstinence and sacrifice, offers us the chance to diminish the impulses to do wrong by increasing our discipline to do right as a conscious choice. We need not think of Lent as a season of trial. It isn't. It can be, instead, a season of growth and freedom, a time when we can - through increasing self-discipline - free ourselves of the things that hold us back from a more personal and rewarding relationship with our God.

Now is the time to consider the things we have done that hurt us, hurt others and hurt our relationship with a God who loves us unconditionally. Take the time to examine your conscience and your relationships. Have you hurt someone? Promised something and not done it? Been untruthful to the detriment of others? Have you been unkind? Have you hurt God Himself by invoking him in vain? Have you hurt yourself by being uncharitable in your heart and closed yourself off to charity towards others?

Use Lent to free yourself of these faults. Use the Confessional and really heal yourself.

Catholics rarely seem to make use of the Confessional these days according to various surveys. It seems to me the point of Lent has been lost on many, as has the opportunity. Perhaps you are scared of 'Confession'? Perhaps the thought of talking about all your deepest and darkest secrets sends you rigid with fear? Perhaps you fear the judgement of the man behind the grille? Perhaps it seems like too big a mountain to climb? Perhaps you've forgotten the right words to use and you're scared of looking like a fool?

I promise you that I once felt the same. I was once so ashamed of my silly little sins that going to Confession brought me out in a cold sweat. I'd long since forgotten how to make a Confession in the formulaic style I was taught. But eventually I couldn't hold out any longer. Eventually I made my way into that little box and falteringly told the priest that I hadn't been to Confession in years and I didn't really know how to do it right. And immediately the priest told me not to worry about any of it. What mattered was that I was there, talking to God, being honest and open about the things I had done wrong. And the words just flooded out. They tumbled over themselves to be said. So many years of pain and guilt for the things that I had done wrong and forced myself to ignore and, unsuccessfully, to forget. A weight was lifted from me and the relief was so overwhelming that I could barely keep up with it. Finally talking to the priest, who I now recognise must have heard all these silly little sins a thousand times or more before, healed me in a way I didn't really know was possible.

I emerged (years ago now) a changed man with a new and precious understanding of the Joy of Confession. It's called being in a State of Grace and it's the knowledge that all your sins have been forgiven. All of them. Without exception. Because you chose to be open and honest and approach God willingly. And because you did, He responded with a loving embrace that exceeds anything you can possibly imagine. It's available to all. Don't be frightened of God. He loves you so much that He cannot refuse anyone who seeks solace in Him.

Of your charity...

2009-02-23T01:45:00.001Z

Please say a "prayer for my intentions"...

I cannot reveal anything other than that prayers are needed. I would be grateful if you would join with me in them, however.

Grateful thanks will be yours.

This made me smile. Lots.

2009-02-21T03:03:00.001Z

There's absolutely nothing religious about this. Except perhaps being thankful to God for the gift of happiness. Which is what these videos made me. A lot.

For some reason the children in Rwanda dancing with Matt is possibly the most heartwarming.

For more about the history behind the videos, go to http://www.wherethehellismatt.com

Thinking while watching paint dry...

2009-02-19T02:35:00.001Z

I am somewhat lacking in computer facilities at the moment (this is being prepared on a laptop balanced precariously on the edge of my bed). My desk is in bits, as is my proper main computer (its component parts are spread all over the house) while I decorate my living room prior to installing new matching shelving and desks. This is the culmination of my project to maximise the amount of storage downstairs in the house. (Next stop, upstairs, but that's a huge project involving knocking down walls and moving plumbing. Eek!)

So, today I have been sitting and watching paint dry. It's actually quite theraputic. Since it wasn't possible to waste my time on my computer, I just sat in the one available chair with my feet up on the window sill staring out at my front garden. I'm rather proud of my front garden. I put in lots of lovely multicoloured foliage last year and it looks almost as good now in winter as it does in summer. Some of the plants are still flowering after 9 months - despite all the recent snow and frigidness. There's a little water feature (one of those half barrel things) that I can turn on when I want the tinkly sound of water splashing. It's rather nice to just gaze at it and forget the modern world with all its bustle and stress and just concentrate on the natural beauty and all that potential energy hidden away inside the tightly wound buds on the cherry tree. Each bud, each leaf, each shoot is a work of art - and they're not of my making.

It made me happy.

Ever felt like you have more than one home?

2009-02-17T00:46:00.001Z

Well I have... And this is it. I've been to Rome twice and on both occasions I felt like I was 'coming home' - which might be thought of as odd, seeing as I barely speak a word of Italian and had to communicate with the Gelato sellers by means of gesticulation and incomprehensible 'Engtalian' - and no, I didn't do the English thing of shouting slowly in English - but I did get my feminine words mixed up with the masculine and made an ice cream seller look quizzically at me when I was referring to myself!

Anyway, there's something about Rome - and in particular the Piazza San Pietro - that made me feel more comfortable than I've ever felt in a city (and normally I don't like cities). I could wander the streets of Rome for ever, which is good, because, despite being a petrol-head, absolutely nothing would persuade me to drive on them!

I really want to go back. And... I nearly have enough Air Miles to do so. Perhaps just after Easter? Perhaps this time I'll spend some more time with my 'Learn Italian in what feels like 37,255 easy-but-interminable steps' books?

Mmmm... Uno grande melone gelato per favore... Mmmm...

What does 'giving up for Lent' really mean?

2009-02-15T23:50:00.001Z

It's a question that's intrigued me for years. It's also been a real problem for me. There's not that much in the manner of things that I consume that I can realistically 'give up for Lent'. The common thing is to give up some favourite type of food, but I don't eat all that much and there aren't 'regular' things that I eat and particularly enjoy that I can realistically give up. For example, I could give up chocolate - but I don't eat it all that often, so it would hardly make much of an impact in my life.

Giving something up for Lent is supposed to enhance some form of virtue in oneself. It's usually the sacrifice of something physical leading to a form of 'self mortification', a form of 'death' in a sense of something worldly and bodily - temporarily of course - that perhaps allows us to empathise a little with the sufferings that Christ allowed himself to experience and hopefully to draw a little closer to Him...

But there is more than one way to give something up. For someone racking their brains for something to do for Lent, how about giving up a bad or selfish habit - or better yet, replacing it with a good and virtuous one?

A couple of years ago, I gave up skipping breakfast. Now at first glance that seems like I'm adding something, not taking it away. But this meant I had to have more willpower. I had to get up earlier before leaving for work where previously I'd rolled out of bed five minutes before the deadline to catch the train and breakfast was simply not an option. And my health suffered as a result of my laziness. So instead I decided to cut out that laziness and eat something to set me up for the day instead. I replaced a bad habit with a good one, and my health improved. It was hard, not dozing comfortably in bed for as long as I could (I like my bed!) but I improved my willpower and I was better for it: physically and spiritually.

This year, my circumstances being different - and my habit now being to eat breakfast! - I have decided that I'm going to give up oversleeping. I'm going to be strict with myself and not stay up all night working and as a result miss half the daylight. It'll be difficult - my body clock rebels at the thought of going to bed before midnight and frequently I'm simply not tired before 5am, but I intend to do this and start living in the daylight for a change!

I'm going to give up a bad habit this coming Lent. And, with luck, I'll replace it with a new and better one. There has to be some virtue in that...

Hungry for the real meaning

2009-02-15T00:51:00.001Z

Sometimes it seems to me that the prayers in the English Missal can be, dare I say it, somewhat banal in their translation from the original Latin.

Now I'm no Latin scholar - the last Latin I learned was 25 years ago at school - so I have to acknowledge, with gratitude, the article in this weeks 'Tablet' which looked at the post Communion prayer of this Sunday's Mass and has helped me gain a new appreciation for what the prayer really says...

"Lord, you give us food from heaven. May we always hunger for the bread of life"

It would be so easy to take these few words at their face value in English and not seek the deeper meaning. It's not a simple matter of feeding and wanting only food that's good for us. The Latin version speaks of the Lord nourishing us with Heavenly delights. It enthuses and strengthens us when we join with the priest and ask that we should always and increasingly desire this heavenly nourishment. Not simple food, but that which sustains us: the breath of God Himself, in our living and our very existence.

So I was very glad that Father deliberately emphasised the word 'hunger' at Vigil Mass tonight. The English doesn't do the Latin justice, if you ask me, but at least we can hear that we should be emphatically and earnestly seeking more nourishment from God: not just physical food, but also the spiritual that sustains our souls and strengthens us in our lives to face the various trials that we all face from time to time without despair but with trust in the One who saves us, if only we let Him.

A new look

2009-02-06T09:34:00.001Z

A new look, recalling languid lush summer days while we shiver in the winter gloom.

I hope you like it.

Sci-fi, God and inspirational things...

2009-02-05T01:05:00.001Z

Most of my friends know this about me already: I am a sci fi fan. I love most things of the genre: Star-Trek, Doctor Who, Star Wars, etc. I also really like Battlestar Galactica (both the high-camp 1970s version and the current 're-imagined' masterpiece).

Now I don't commonly attach any particular religious significance to sci-fi, I just enjoy it for the escapism and the story-telling so imagine my surprise and delight when tonight I happened across the translation of the lyrics used in the main titles of Battlestar Galactica... It's the Gayatri Mantra, sung in Sanskrit, and is a sacred verse from the Hindu tradition, although to me it speaks volumes about how we humans reach out to the Divine in all our traditions. Regardless of how we individually view those traditions and their efficacy (for want of a better word right now), that movement towards God, that reaching out, that yearning for the Divine can be stunning and beautifully profound. Discovering this verse was one of those moments of realisation of beauty that I will treasure forever.

The desire for Good, the opening of our hearts for God to guide us, that willingness of spirit to be led somewhere better and to be better than we are now... that is something we surely all can learn to appreciate and love.

No matter who you are, what your tradition is, perhaps we can all join in our hearts with this prayer:

Aum bhoor bhuwah swaha,
Tat savitur varenyam
Bhargo devasaya dheemahi
Dhiyo yo naha prachodayat

It has many translations, but the most common is:

Oh God! Thou art the Giver of Life,
Remover of pain and sorrow,
The Bestower of happiness,
Oh! Creator of the Universe,
May we receive thy supreme sin-destroying light,
May Thou guide our intellect in the right direction.

May we all be guided by our God towards the Right and the Good and may we all seek that Guidance from God whom we love.

Oh... and enjoy Battlestar Galactica on the way too! ;)

Candlemas Day

2009-02-02T11:49:00.001Z

Copied from http://clericalwhispers.blogspot.com/2009/02/candlemas-2nd-february.htmlA PRAYER FOR CANDLEMAS DAY

LORD Jesus Christ, You are the true Light enlightening every soul born into this world.

Today we celebrate the feast of Candlemas.

Before Holy Mass, the priest blesses the candles, whose wax is the humming summer's work of countless bees.

The flames of these candles will shed their light upon the altar at the Holy Sacrifice.

Help us to realize, this day and every day, that our own humdrum daily work, if it is done for love of You, and in union with the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, will be a supernatural work, and will shine brightly before You for all eternity.

Help us realize, too, each time we see the blessed candles at Holy Mass, or at the bedside of the sick, that they are a symbol of Yourself, the Light shining in the darkness of this world.

Help us to live in that Light, to make it our own, and to kindle it in the souls of others, increasing the area Of light and lessening the darkness in the World.

This, dear Lord, help us do, through the merits of Your own dear mother, Mary, who did everything for love of You, from the moment she brought You into this world till the day she joined You in the realms of light at her death.

Then we, too, working for You, shall be light-bearers who will help to spread Your kingdom on earth, and increase the number of those who dwell in heaven, the city of eternal light.

Amen

Another year goes by...

2009-01-20T15:07:00.001Z

And I rack up another year.

Happy birthday to me!

Letter from Gaza

2009-01-20T14:56:00.001Z

This Sunday our parish priest read out an open letter from Fr Manuel Mussallam who is the priest for the tiny Catholic community of 200 in the Holy Family parish in Gaza. The profoundly moving letter recounted the situation in Gaza under the conditions of war imposed by Israel over the last few weeks. My heart broke at this passage:

I announce to you from the heart of the father and priest, the death of the daughter of our school in Holy Family, the dear, Christine Wadi al-Turk, the first Christian to die in the war. Christine was in the tenth grade in our school and she died this morning, Friday, January 2, 2009 as a result of fear and the cold. The windows in her home were open to protect the children from glass fragments and the missiles that pass above it. The bombing that hit her neighbor's home caused her whole body to shake in horror. She could not bear all this, so she went to complain to her Creator about her situation and request a home and a refuge where there is no crying, screaming or wailing, but joy and happiness.

I find it deeply distressing that any nation should seek to wage war on innocent civilians and, in particular, that a child should be driven to death by fear.

The letter is reproduced in full on our parish website: http://www.saintdominics.org.uk/news.htm

Please take the time to read it and, perhaps, to join in prayer with the Christians of Gaza as they recite the words Fr Manuel has provided for prayer at the top of each hour:

O Lord of peace rain peace on us, O Lord of peace, grant peace to our land. Have mercy, O Lord, on your people and do not keep us in enmity forever.

Amen.

I'm really not a very good blogger am I?

2008-12-29T14:29:00.001Z

Nearly four months has gone by without a peep from me. For that I'm sorry. Life has not been easy recently, what with my father suffering a fall resulting in a broken hip and two bouts of illness for me (flu followed almost immediately afterwards by the dreaded winter vomiting bug, which knocked me off my feet for nearly three weeks) I've not really had the inclination or the time to keep up with this thing... Perhaps a New Year resolution is appropriate?!

A pause for thought...

2008-09-11T13:10:00.001+01:00

Today is the 11th of September.

Seven years have gone past, yet still the images of the World Trade Centre towers falling have the power to shock. I still remember clearly where I was and what I was doing as I learned of the atrocity.

I want to take a moment to remember those who died both then and afterwards as a result of the attacks and the responses to them.

No matter who they are, each soul is precious to God. I pray that those who died and were innocent of any crime may have come to joy and peace in the presence of God. Because I hope that all souls may be saved, I pray that those who were guilty may have in their final moments realised the truth of their actions and that they were able to seek forgiveness from God that their souls might be washed clean and saved. I pray that those who seek violence or vengeance in this world may find instead charity and peace. Lord, on this day, comfort those who weep for lost ones.

May peace be with you all.

Hmm...

2008-09-11T13:04:00.001+01:00

Bad news, I'm afraid.

I've decided that I'm not ready for seminary life. I've backed out of beginning studies this year. I just need to prepare myself better for the challenges of living in a community environment, which sadly I've not had the chance to do as I've been so sidetracked in the last few months. After nearly 20 years of self-sufficiency and being able to come and go as I please I need still to prepare myself better, so I'll give it another year.

All is not not lost!

A Perfect Storm? (2)

2008-09-01T10:36:00.001+01:00

Hurricane Gustav is approaching New Orleans. That poor city which hasn't yet recovered from Hurricane Katrina is facing the possibility of yet another natural disaster. Let us hope and pray that the levees hold and those who are left behind in the city, both residents and those who are there to protect life and property, will survive the onslaught of the approaching maelstrom.

A Perfect Storm?

2008-09-01T10:24:00.001+01:00

The BBC is today reporting a leaked Home Office letter suggesting that crime will go up because of the economic downturn. It says that smuggling will increase as well as property crime - theft, burglary, etc - and violent crime. It also says that there will be increased hostility to migrants as competition for jobs increases and that there will be a tendency towards support growing for far right political parties as a result.

I'm hoping that this won't end up as a socio-political disaster - i.e. far right parties do well, immigrants get increasingly mistreated or worse. It seems to me that British society has spent the last few decades gradually losing its moral centre and as it does so reactionary forces are left unchecked. Each time the economy has a setback, the security and the rights of the weakest suffer.

Society has let itself go. We need a strong moral centre for the nation. We need a sense of justice and we need strong messages of goodness. Everyone deserves it. We need strong moral leadership. The reactionary forces that surface every time the economy (or security) suffers need to be countered by a strong message of peace and hope. Now, more than ever, we need to speak of peace and justice to all, otherwise we run the risk of a 'perfect storm' of social, economic and political events resulting in a great tragedy for the good of our citizens and those who visit our shores.

It is time for men and women of goodness to step and be counted.

Unstoppable Love

2008-08-31T18:48:00.001+01:00

I just heard these words in a lovely song. Don't they describe God so
well?

A topic for meditation, I think.

Getting closer...

2008-08-26T19:30:00.001+01:00

Should I start chewing my nails now? It's seven days and counting until I leave for the Seminary.

I still have a mountain of laundry to do, clothes to pack and books to box up. Then I have to pack up my computer. No... I have to pack up my computers. I use a Mac day-to-day, but I also have responsibilities with regard to keeping my local parish's website (St Dominics) up-to-date and that requires a PC. On top of this I am the quintessential 'Gadget Man' - a residue of 17 years of an IT career! So I'll be carting quite a considerable amount of technology 120 miles westwards to Oscott... My poor little car is going to be packed to the roof!

I am, however, not actually worrying about any of this at all. Especially since this weekend when I was privileged to meet Father Philip Harries while on a short holiday in Wales: he was recently ordained for the Diocese of Menevia after having studied at Oscott. He joyfully assured me that I will really enjoy my studies at Oscott and I have to say that I can't wait!

Roll on the packing!

Where is Loyalty?

2008-08-16T19:19:00.001+01:00

It seems to me, these days, that loyalty and obedience have flown out the window at all levels in society, often in surprising circumstances.

As a society we seem to be concentrating more and more on our own benefit and less on the effect we have on others. This is demonstrated in social activities, political activities, business behaviour and even by some people who call themselves ministers of religion - people who really ought to know better.

The culture of being responsible to a superior seems to be vanishing. All over the place bosses are vilified and ridiculed behind their backs by those who should owe them some loyalty. But then, perhaps this is just a symptom of a wider malaise...?

The Government certainly doesn't seem to promote any sense of togetherness or loyalty in our culture any more. We're being fractured and torn apart by fear and bitterness. We're encouraged to view each other with suspicion and cynicism seems to know no bounds.

I used to believe that most people prefer to be good to one another. Then I underwent a psychological evaluation (for my seminary application) and it appears that I might have been a bit naive. It now seems to me to be likely that most people are - to a greater or lesser extent - often selfish, back-biting and out for whatever they can get at the expense of whoever gets in their way. Certainly it seems that many people will habitually 'break the rules' if they know they can get away with it and if it will gain them some advantage.

From lifting paperclips and other stationery from work (admit it, you do this don't you? A few sheets of paper won't be missed, you're OWED it aren't you?) to breaking the speed limit (I'm not harming anyone, am I?) to secretly eyeing up the girls at the pub while your wife/girlfriend is elsewhere (I can look if I want, can't I? I'm not touching after all...) most people seem to be losing their sense of honour, and frankly, their willpower seems to be lacking somewhat. It seems a bit of a cliche to harp back to the ‘good old days’ but there really was a time when personal morals were stronger.

Yes, these are often just little things and the effect can be minor, if not non-existent - at least apart from within one’s own mind. But take a look at what is going on out there in the wider world where these lackadaisical attitudes to personal morality have wider consequences...

There is a view that says that the Government of the day panders to its own constituency rather than looking out for the good of the whole country... Why? So that individual people can remain wielding the power that they love so much. Government owes loyalty to ALL the people, not SOME of them.

But where is all this culture of disloyalty coming from? Has society been led into a habit of hedonism by government policies or have authorities lost touch with their responsibilities towards society by virtue of the fact that they're formed from people who were already more or less devoid of, well, much virtue in the first place?

It's a Chicken and Egg situation, isn't it?

Perhaps people can enlighten me?

New beginnings

2008-06-16T18:58:00.001+01:00

I’ve been remiss in not updating this blog for a while.

Things have been busy here, not least with interviews and meetings and a lot of prayer. And it’s with great joy and not a little bit of apprehension that I can report that I have been accepted to test my vocation for the priesthood at St Mary’s College, Oscott (the seminary where students are sent from the Diocese of East Anglia).

Please pray for me while I prepare for this momentous change in my life!

Think of the children

2008-02-01T18:52:00.001Z

A comment I saw on an online forum topic about ‘managing decline in the Church’ read “Sometimes I want to scream! We have a problem. We have lost, and continue to lose, the young people”

I thought it might be worth putting my reply here (modified very slightly for context), for wider readership (assuming anyone’s actually reading this!)...

I'll add my voice in agreement with this statement too.

There are too few Catholic schools and the opportunity to start them is minimal as they would not be sustainable in today’s secularised climate.

For the youth we DO have contact with, we need a programme of continual reinforcement of their faith. That means their parents need to work with them, and they need to hear more from the Church (at a personal level) than 'just' going to Mass. It seems to me that children get their First Communion instruction and then they're just left 'flapping in the wind'... There's no obvious continuing youth catechesis. The Faith needs to be kept alive for them. Mass alone can't do it if they go to secular and non-religious schools. We need to bring back 'Sunday School' - although perhaps in a modern form.

It's a very real ambition of mine: on a personal level I'm itching to be able to talk to and teach the youngsters in my parish. I want to engage their minds, get them thinking about God in their lives, point to the Tabernacle and ask them not what but WHO is living within it. I want them to feel that the Church is a lovely warm embracing place to come into and not somewhere that they get dragged unwilling of a Sunday morning or Saturday evening. I want to forestall the intransigence of teen age, the digging in of the heels and refusal to come with Mum and Dad to Church because they don't feel either wanted, appreciated, valued or plain old interested. I want to draw them so close to God that they can't wait to come to the next Mass.

This is achievable. You know how?

Kids love to be given responsibility. They like to feel part of something. They want to feel valued for the contribution they can give. They need affirmation and affection from the Church. If we can communicate with kids at a level appropriate to their age and that they feel that we're hearing them and appreciating their efforts they'll keep coming back.

On catechesis, we must have teaching at more than just First Communion and Confirmation levels. We need it at the ages in between and beyond. In fact we probably need it right up to and including adulthood - an interactive engagement with religious ideas and the Church that goes beyond the homily. Kids need 'rites of passage' experiences and we can easily build them into their experience of Church. We can engage them with the ways in which we can teach them to worship. Here’s an idea, perhaps for older children: coming to the first morning Mass where the kids make a special resolution to ‘break their fast’ with the Sacrament, for example. Perhaps not as a regular thing - the rules don’t require it, after all - but as something significant for them to experience. (I remember, as an adult, the huge symbolism that it had for me the first time I did it). Perhaps it could happen early in the Summer Holidays? And not just 'abandoning them' afterward but getting them together and asking them how they feel and what the experience meant to them.

That’s just one single idea. Here’s another. How about giving children the opportunity for regular Eucharistic Adoration as part of their exercises in learning spirituality? Let them talk about what they think and feel. I know that as a child I never had that opportunity and on the exceptionally rare occasions that I caught sight of the Monstrance I wondered at its beauty. I would have benefited from exploring it more.

There are so many ways we can attach worship to our daily lives that our faith can quite easily and reasonably become subsumed into everything we do. Once that happens it becomes part of the fabric of your life.

We need a radical and practically heroic effort to bring these experiences of faith to our young. It'll stem the flow of youth as they fall away from the Church. It needs to be done NOW and we can ALL help.

Is my vocation showing, do you think? ;)

I saw this and thought...

2008-01-16T18:49:00.001Z

An idle thought...

I wonder if anyone remembers the old advert for the Royal Mail that had the theme of ‘I saw this and thought of you’ as a reason to send someone a gift in the post?

It just occurred to me that this theme would be an excellent one for re-connecting with those who had fallen away from the Church. Perhaps someone could come up with some leaflets or booklets along this theme, containing words of compassion, tenderness and a longing to be reunited with our ‘lost sheep’.

I expect such things probably already exist. Wouldn’t it be nice if the Church appropriated this common phrase and made it work for something much better than the Post Office.

On being happy

2007-12-26T18:46:00.001Z

What is happiness? How is it achieved?

Taking a cue from an article I have been reading, I have been thinking about happiness and how people aspire to and achieve it in the world today.

Where is happiness found? Are people missing a few ‘tricks’ in their quests for happiness?

It seems to me, based on what I have observed in those around me and confirmed in the article that prompted these thoughts, that people will do a lot to achieve happiness - perhaps more than they need to and often the wrong things altogether.

Some people consider that having the perfect body (a pernicious concept, in my opinion) will make them happy and they’ll move mountains to carry out this wish. They’ll sacrifice hours each day sweating away at a gym, pounding the streets in sweatshirt and trainers or wasting away on a punishing diet of little more than air and dust. And perhaps they’ll be satisfied when they get to their goal, but they will still have to work hard maintaining their body image.

Other people think they will find happiness in money and they become driven and addicted to working every last available second of the day towards fulfilling that dream, often without ever achieving it and very often at the considerable expense of others.

I wonder though, have any of these people considered that happiness is an emotion and not a commodity? It cannot be reliably gained in things that can be seen. It can, however, be easily gained in things that can be felt. And that is where the heart comes in.

Wouldn’t it be wiser for a person to examine what sort of happiness it is that they’re seeking? The perfect body does not last forever. Money does not buy love (although it might be able to buy a superficial facsimile of it which, again, will only be transient).

Happiness - true happiness - does not exist in isolation. I cannot achieve happiness thinking only of me. I am a social creature - just like most other people - and, when it comes down to it, I achieve happiness in how I interact with people. The person who is obsessed with their appearance does so because they believe it makes them more acceptable to other people: they believe that if they can only be just this much prettier or just that much more ‘toned’ then they’ll have people falling at their feet. But the prettiest person in the world still needs an attractive personality. The richest person in the world might be able to ‘purchase’ hangers-on but what happens when the money runs out?

Look inside yourself and ask yourself how much time you spend being good rather than chasing a material goal. Could you achieve a greater and more fulfilling happiness in being a ‘better person’?

Christ gave us the most amazing commandment: to love God and to love one another as we would be loved. Loving God gives us the strength and the reason to love one another. In spending time in prayer we gradually begin to appreciate the world and our lives in new ways. New meanings become apparent and old ambitions fall away. No longer is it necessary to be rich or beautiful. Instead it becomes more apparent that greater satisfaction and ‘inner peace’ comes from the ways we talk to others. It’s not an exaggeration to state that, in my experience, the more focused I am on prayer and contemplation of God, the more I find that I value other people and from that my perception is that they value me more as well. The one is driven by the other. And this happiness doesn’t decline with age or dwindling bank balances because it’s rooted in something not of the material world... and that something is wonderful, mighty, eternal, peaceful and loving. I’m sure you know His name by now...

The abundance of God’s blessings

2007-12-11T18:40:00.001Z

I have just returned from my diocese’s Discernment Weekend for those considering applying for entry to the Priesthood.

From Saturday onwards there have been moments each day that have been very special.

Moment 1.

We had an hour of Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament on Saturday afternoon. It was in a normal room. No churchy surroundings or inspirational paintings or anything. Just us and the Blessed Sacrament. I won’t go into too many details, but after about 50 minutes I had what I can only describe as a moment of perfect clarity. Well, more like five minutes of moments actually. And it was wonderful. In the proper sense of the word: I was filled with wonder. And awe. And joy. I felt changed. And that wasn’t the end of it.

Moment 2.

On Sunday we went to Mass at the nearby church. We walked there - a group of seven of us - down lanes and between fields, and even past a roundabout inhabited, astonishingly, by a large number of seemingly feral chickens. Which was a bit of a surprise! Anyway we got to St Edmunds in Bungay and I discovered that it’s lovely (both the church and Bungay itself). Just being in that glorious church in such magnificent surroundings would have been good enough, but no, there was more. There was an organ. A REAL organ. With pipes. And an organist. And there was even more! There was a choir. A REAL choir. That can sing. They have a soloist. Who can SING. (And they even have hymns pitched such that I can sing them too!). And then there was a full complement of altar boys and girls, with an MC. I couldn’t help but feel blessed that I was able to attend Mass there. Afterwards we all went for coffee and were made to feel very welcome.

Moment 3.

Perhaps I am revealing my more ‘modern side’ here, but I have just discovered a most amazing piece of music. It’s ‘Agnus Dei’ by Rufus Wainwright and it’s nothing like any Agnus Dei you’ve ever heard before. It took my breath away. Wainwright performs the piece outstandingly: his voice portrays such longing and draws one right into the music. On first hearing it, it ‘knocked my socks off’ and served to remind me that there is a rich seam of religious music that can be reinterpreted and rescored in a modern way without losing any of its purity or its ‘punch’.

(Latin purists will want to be pre-warned that ‘Agnus’ is pronounced badly in the song - with a rather hard G - but in my opinion it takes nothing away from the passion in the piece).

Moment 4.

Finally, today I have discovered http://www.pray-as-you-go.org/. Produced by ‘Jesuit Media Initiatives’ I couldn’t fail to be impressed. It’s made it straight to the top of my list of web favourites and I foresee that it’s going to be a great resource for my daily prayer life. I thank God for the effort that has gone into it.

Musing on Tenderness

2007-11-21T18:36:00.001Z

I was looking at my faithful pooch (that’s her in the picture) this afternoon and a question struck me that caused me some sadness...

How is it that so many are so capable of showing such kindness and tenderness to their pet animals and yet so capable of being mean to their fellows? Not all people, by any means, but history is replete with examples of the goriest of characters who were reputedly kind to small animals and pets.

We are made to love. Our deepest desire is to love and to be loved. Our emotional security comes far more from a loving relationship with our family and our friends - people who we know we can rely on - than on simple material possessions. I have heard people say they would happily live in a cave if it meant they would be with their beloved rather than be separated but in material comfort. So how come some people seem only capable of demonstrating their capability for loving in doing so for an animal?

Isn’t love meant for sharing? Isn’t tenderness something that every person deserves? Isn’t it nourishing and sustaining? Could those people who derive emotional satisfaction from loving an animal not try to demonstrate that tenderness for other human beings as well? It costs nothing, and we’d all gain so much.

Birth, Baptism, Babies and Belief

2007-10-23T17:43:00.001+01:00

I have been thinking lately about my Christian beliefs. Well, actually I think about them all the time, but sometimes a specific idea grabs you and it doesn’t let go for a while.

In this instance I was thinking about the parallels of parenthood and God’s sacrifice of his Son for us. I was thinking about the amazing, life-changing, all encompassing love that a parent has for a newborn child: how that mother or father would do anything to protect the child even if it meant sacrificing their lives. Sacrifice in the name of love is a theme that comes up in literature from time to time - just look at the ‘Harry Potter’ and ‘Narnia’ series, for example - and it’s a very true reflection of one of the fundamental cores of Christian belief.

As a Christian I believe that God is ‘triune’ - i.e. that God exists as God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. God became incarnate - that is to say took human form - and sacrificed himself in order that we humans (his creation) should be saved from ourselves.

Now to a lot of people this has to be a very dry concept... a man lets himself be killed and suddenly that puts everything right for the whole of the human race? That’s balderdash!

But consider it this way. As a good parent you would do everything within your power for the good of your child. You would go to the ends of the earth and back again if it meant saving them from harm. You would, if it were possible, willingly take their place if they were suffering an awful illness. Your love for your child would drive you to do things that to others might seem heroic or even stupid but to you would be completely necessary. Your decisions would be motivated by your own overpowering and irresistible love for your child.

Imagine now the position of a Creator God who had taken human form in a much loved world that had been corrupted and filled with evil. Would you lose hope and destroy or abandon everything you had created and start again, or, because you built it all out of love, would you try to fix it?

Us broken, bad, beastly human beings met with Christ and we didn’t (on the whole) recognise the man Jesus for what and who he was. And because his message of redemption didn’t fit with our selfish mean ways we decided to reject him and put him out of our minds in the most (we thought) absolute way we could imagine. We decided to silence him once and for all and get back to our lusts for power and prestige and other selfishness.

And Jesus let us.

He let us kill him. He didn’t have to. He had the power to stop it - all the biblical accounts of Jesus speak of a man who had awesome and astonishing power. He could have run away or miraculously dissolved the nails or struck down the Roman guards or fomented a revolution or any number of different things. But he chose to let himself be crucified.

What does that say to us?

It says, to me at least, that the saving power of this self-sacrifice was greater than any momentary miraculous act. It says that God loved his Creation so much that he was prepared to do anything to set in place a cure for its ills, including the most painful thing: of being rejected by all that he loved and, as Jesus, being put to death. But he also knew that the power of this act would reverberate down the millennia in a way a simple popular revolt would not. He knew that those with eyes to see and hearts to feel would understand the significance and empathise with how they, as the creators and parents of their own children, would feel if the only option to save someone so totally and unconditionally loved was to sacrifice themselves.

To welcome into our world new life and to mark each new child with baptism brings us into the company of God who loved his creation so much that he sacrificed himself in the form of his son for our eternal benefit. In experiencing the wonder and joy of new life we begin to get a taste of the love our blessed Lord had for us. And isn’t that just wonderful?

Of course it didn’t just end with Our Lord dying on the cross, but I’ll write about the absolute necessity of the Resurrection in the grand scheme of things another time.